45-yr-old arrested for raping minor girl in Salem

A 45-year-old man was arrested on charges of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl before throwing her body in a canal.

A 45-year-old man was arrested on charges of raping and killing an eight-year-old girl before throwing her body in a canal.

The girl's body was recovered from the Mettur Canal last night, N Mayilvahanan, Superintendent of Police told reporters in Salem on Saturday.

He said the girl was staying with her grand parents since on Tuesday as her parents had gone to participate in the 'Thaipoosam' festival at Palani temple.

When she did not return from school in the evening on Saturday, her family started searching for her.

Some people noticed Selvan taking the girl, his neighbour, to his house while she was going to school in the morning.

Selvan, who was interrogated by police, confessed that he took the girl to his house, raped and killed her by strangulating her neck and then put the body in a gunny bag and threw it in the canal at Oonamparai near in Salem in the evening.

A case under section 302 of the IPC (punishment for murder) was taken against him, Mayilvaganan said.